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A review by cornmaven
X Troop: The Secret Jewish Commandos of World War II by Leah Garrett
3.0
Thanks to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for providing an ARC for this WWII book set to be published in May, 2021.
Garrett documents a previously little known story of Jewish refugees from various European countries being recruited by the British Army for several assignments in the push to defeat the Nazis. Their assignments were dangerous, sometimes strange, and resulted in lots of surrenders of German soldiers, with little resistance. The commandos had to relinquish their birth identities and take on a British one, complete with backstory. Their advantage in understanding the culture and speaking the language was invaluable.
I found it very fascinating, and while my ARC did not include photos, I was glad to see that the fully published version would have many. A what happened to... section is included at the end, and was of great interest to me - once you get to know the various people through the story, you want to know where they ended up, which was often just as interesting.
Where I feel the book fell short was Garrett's insistence on providing a level of military detail that would not interest most readers; naming a person exact group assignment by letter and number, each and every time slowed the tale down. Only WWII students doing academic research would like that. It affected the tension of some moments negatively, in my opinion. But overall, a good read.
Garrett documents a previously little known story of Jewish refugees from various European countries being recruited by the British Army for several assignments in the push to defeat the Nazis. Their assignments were dangerous, sometimes strange, and resulted in lots of surrenders of German soldiers, with little resistance. The commandos had to relinquish their birth identities and take on a British one, complete with backstory. Their advantage in understanding the culture and speaking the language was invaluable.
I found it very fascinating, and while my ARC did not include photos, I was glad to see that the fully published version would have many. A what happened to... section is included at the end, and was of great interest to me - once you get to know the various people through the story, you want to know where they ended up, which was often just as interesting.
Where I feel the book fell short was Garrett's insistence on providing a level of military detail that would not interest most readers; naming a person exact group assignment by letter and number, each and every time slowed the tale down. Only WWII students doing academic research would like that. It affected the tension of some moments negatively, in my opinion. But overall, a good read.